Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The 17th Annual Sir Hugh Laddie lecture organised by the UCL Institute of Brand & Innovation Law
The 2025 Sir Hugh Laddie Lecture on
Patent Law Harmonisation: How we got this far
delivered by The Rt Hon Sir Christopher Floyd, Former Lord Justice of Appeal; Honorary Professor, Faculty of Laws, University College London
Chaired by The Rt Hon Professor Sir Robin Jacob, UCL IBIL
About this talk:
Patent law harmonisation has long been a stated objective of many countries. Differences, some quite important, still remain at the global level, however. There is a reluctance amongst states to change laws which appear to work well solely for the purposes of harmonisation. On the other hand, the member states of the Unified Patent Court Agreement ("UPCA") have planned and realised a system which goes beyond mere harmonisation (which does not always work satisfactorily) to uniform application of substantive patent laws. The system allows for enforcement and revocation before a court common to the member states of unitary patents granted by the European Patent Office and which apply to all the states party the agreement. The lecture reflects on the history of this harmonisation and unification process and examines how such a remarkable result was achieved.
About the Laddie Lecturer:
Sir Christopher Floyd was a judge of the Court of Appeal for England and Wales from April 2013 until he retired from full-time sitting in 2021. From October 2018 he was the supervising judge for intellectual property cases in the Court of Appeal. From 2007 he was a judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court, a judge and subsequently judge in charge of the Patents Court, and a Deputy Chairman of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Before becoming a judge, he practised as a barrister in intellectual property law from his chambers at 11 South Square, Gray’s Inn, becoming Queen’s Counsel in 1992. Whilst in practice he was a Deputy Chairman of the Copyright Tribunal, Chairman of the Intellectual Property Bar Association and a Recorder. He is now an Honorary Professor of Law, Faculty of Laws, University College London and has returned to 11 South Square as a consultant.
The 17th Annual Sir Hugh Laddie lecture organised by the UCL Institute of Brand & Innovation Law
The 2025 Sir Hugh Laddie Lecture on
Patent Law Harmonisation: How we got this far
delivered by The Rt Hon Sir Christopher Floyd, Former Lord Justice of Appeal; Honorary Professor, Faculty of Laws, University College London
Chaired by The Rt Hon Professor Sir Robin Jacob, UCL IBIL
About this talk:
Patent law harmonisation has long been a stated objective of many countries. Differences, some quite important, still remain at the global level, however. There is a reluctance amongst states to change laws which appear to work well solely for the purposes of harmonisation. On the other hand, the member states of the Unified Patent Court Agreement ("UPCA") have planned and realised a system which goes beyond mere harmonisation (which does not always work satisfactorily) to uniform application of substantive patent laws. The system allows for enforcement and revocation before a court common to the member states of unitary patents granted by the European Patent Office and which apply to all the states party the agreement. The lecture reflects on the history of this harmonisation and unification process and examines how such a remarkable result was achieved.
About the Laddie Lecturer:
Sir Christopher Floyd was a judge of the Court of Appeal for England and Wales from April 2013 until he retired from full-time sitting in 2021. From October 2018 he was the supervising judge for intellectual property cases in the Court of Appeal. From 2007 he was a judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court, a judge and subsequently judge in charge of the Patents Court, and a Deputy Chairman of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Before becoming a judge, he practised as a barrister in intellectual property law from his chambers at 11 South Square, Gray’s Inn, becoming Queen’s Counsel in 1992. Whilst in practice he was a Deputy Chairman of the Copyright Tribunal, Chairman of the Intellectual Property Bar Association and a Recorder. He is now an Honorary Professor of Law, Faculty of Laws, University College London and has returned to 11 South Square as a consultant.
